This week I was asked to do some more sketches for the Birthright Israel NEXT, NY Project We Do website. They're super tiny on the actual site, so I thought I'd post them here for you to see a little bigger. Each illustration is an icon to coincide with an explanation of the different elements that make up a traditional Jewish wedding ceremony.

I've also designed the invitations for the wedding and now that they've been mailed out, and guests have seen them, I can share them here with you. The cute part is the bottom of the invite. It has the bride and groom illustrations that match the one's that drop down throughout the website. I chose this font for it's rounded and playful yet casual cute look.

So I've decided to take a look at my Etsy shop to see which of my fashion illustration prints could be costume inspiring. My very favorite, although probably the most costly to pull off well is Marie Antionette. I'd love to get fully decked out in such an elaborate period costume. That dress, tall platnium wig, feathers, and lace, what more could a girl want from a night of dress up?

Throughout the years some of my favorite Halloween memories have been when I dressed up as part of a group costume. As a kid I was once part of Alvin and the Chipmunks with two other friends. I got stuck being Simon cause I was the tallest and had glasses, but have fun memories of it none the less! Then in college for a friends costume party, I along with 4 other friends, was Madonna through the years. We each chose a Madonna to be: "Like a Virgin" Madonna complete with white lace bustier and boy toy belt, "Frozen Madonna" in geisha garb, "American Pie" Madonna in a western shirt and cowboy hat. Such a great group costume.

The point of this long tangent is that I found a group costume idea in my shop: the fab four from Sex and the City as seen in my They're Back print. This wouldn't be too much of a stretch for most NYC girls who try to be them every night, halloween or not. (I guess it's that age old saying "life imitate's art, which imitate's life", right?) But if you really went all out and got the appropriate wigs, outfits, and accessories, it could be great. You could even include your boyfriends, gay husbands, and friends by having them join you as Big, Harry, or Stanford.

The last illustration I've picked as possible costume inspiration is Cleo, my modern day Cleopatra. First Marie, a French queen and now an Egyptian pharaoh! Maybe I need a spa day or something, I swear I don't sit around dreaming of being a royalty, they just happen to have fabulous wardrobes.

Seeing the latest Gap ad campaign really reminded me of my Little Sisters print (shown above). The grey and yellow color scheme is still going strong, and I'm loving it. The pink tulle skirt from the collection is a wonderful compliment. As my customers know I wrap all my orders in with a pink tulle bow.

I'm normally not a huge fan of celebrity collections or designer lines at lower end, mass market retailers but there's always an exception to the rule. How ridiculously adorable is this collection from Stella McCartney for Gap kids?!? It will be available in stores November 2nd, prices will range from $14 to $128, and if I was a petite size zero I'd be running over there. (Ahh, if only!)

Ashley Olsen! It was a trill to hear Ashley speak fashion, and to see Mary-Kate, who was a few rows up from me supporting her sis. I am such a fan of The Row and Elizabeth and James, their two fashion labels, and I absolutely love their sense of style. (The pic above is a tear that I used to have on my inspiration board at work. I can't believe I was able to find it. I LOVE this image. Everything from the way the dresses compliment each other to the fabulous dramatic eye and nude lip. Even the set is stunning!)

Last week, in midst of my computer dying on me (which is why I didn't blog about it until now) I headed across town to the 92nd Street Y for a discussion about "The Future of Fashion" with Ashley Olsen, Isaac Mizrahi, Robin Givhan, and Cindi Leive.

Robin Givhan, Washington Post fashion critic, provided the most food for thought on the topics discussed. There was one answer of hers that really stayed with me. The question posed was: "why do people love to hate fashion"? Robin said "it's partially cultural, that in this country fashion is not thought of as fine art. It is not valued, and is not thought of as being in the same category as say painting or sculpture. Fashion is also a woman's industry. No one would say that spending thousands of dollars on season tickets for football is ridiculous, but a woman spending serious money on a gown is frivolous!?!?" Amen Robin! :)

I've been so excited about this day, and it's finally here! About a month ago the lovely Etsy staffers offered me the opportunity to write a guest blog post. I was trilled to be asked while completely terrified about what to write about and if it would be what they had in mind. It was suggested I write about my custom bridal illustration process, but I had just blogged about that here in a 3 part series. And if I was writing all about my illustration process then how would I feature other Etsy sellers, which is one of the goals of the Storque (Etsy's Handmade Blog).

Since the majority of my custom work is for weddings, and purchased as wedding and anniversary gifts, I decided to blog about other unique wedding gifts. I named my post "The Wow Wedding Gift" and featured other unique Etsy handmade wedding related items from engagement gifts, bridal shower gifts, and bachelorette accessories, to wedding gifts and fun guest favors, like the custom fortune teller shown below.

Pulling together this post was a fantastic experience and I enjoyed working on every element that went into it. Browsing through my favorite sellers, designing the header image, and writing the actual post while thinking about all the wedding's I've been to and gift's I've given over the years, I loved it all. So now that my guest blog post is now up and live on the Etsy Storque (Wouldn't you know it my computer went and died the very same day my guest blog went up, so that's why I'm just now blogging about it!) I hope you check it out and enjoy it! I certainly enjoyed writing it and searching for the perfect "wow" worthy items that I'd love to give.

I've finally added a listing to my shop of all my fashion illustration prints in "mini" form! The listing I've set up here is for a set of 3 mini prints, to your choosing. I've been meaning to do this for a while now and finally took the time and made them, along with new bookmarks, cards and tags featuring my illustrations. My shop is stuffed, I've never had this much up there at one time before. I like it, and it's motivating me to make more!

This weekend while everyone was out of town for the long holiday weekend (Columbus Day; who knew it was such travel weekend! My friends went everywhere from DC and Pennsylvania to Long Island and Miami!) I however was home, busy finishing orders and adding items to the shop.

A while back I sold all of my bridal gift tags so I thought it was time to make some more. This time I've made them in sets of 8, featuring more of my favorite bridal illustrations.

It's so fun to see a bride who thinks out of the box! For Beth's Vegas nuptials she did just that by choosing this adorable Topshop strapless white bustier dress in a red lipstick kiss print. It was such a fun illustration to work on, and I love how it came out. There's something about Beth's smirk and silky long hair makes this bridal illustration look very Disney princess to me. (If only there was a Disney princess who skipped the yacht wedding at sunset and headed to Sin City!)

Last week the ladies over at Material Girls had a post about the fabulousness of Home Goods. Home Goods is a store I love and over the years have found some fantastic finds at, both for my home and for countless photoshoots I've styled. Being that I live in Manhattan, which is lacking a Home Goods, I don't get to go there too often anymore. After reading their post I decided I was due a trip out there. My little find of the day was this little glass and silver dish. It was actually in the bath area, and I is meant to be a soap dish but I love it on my dresser as a jewelry catchall. You can't tell from the photo's but it has about a 3/4" pedestal, a smoked silver rim, weighs a ton and was only $6.99!

I also treated myself to some flowers. I was craving a yellow bouquet to split up and put around the apartment but the pink ones were half the price, so pink it is. ;)

When I began this drawing I had no intentions of drawing a blond or making the dress white. I draw so much bridal that I like to steer clear of white in my Etsy shop when it's not wedding related, but when it came time to color that just seemed the way to go for her.

I really like how she came out, very polished and poised. I've never had a close friend named Catherine, but the name just seems to fit her.

Ever since I started my illustration business I've gotten some fantastic press. I thought it was time to put it together and post them together in one spot. I've created a facebook photo album here on my facebook fan page with some of my favorite features from magazines and blogs.

New Jersey Bride was the first magazine to feature me and one of my illustrations. It was such a trill to see my name in print next to my work! I had had illustrations printed before but it was always illustrations done for clients or my former company and I would never actually receive any credit. I think I actually gasped while I stood in line in a Barnes & Noble in Jersey and first saw this page with my feature.

The next time I felt this trill was with this feature in New Jersey Life Weddings. (I'm a born a raised New Yorker but New Jersey's really shown me some love huh!) The way that this feature came about was through a previous job. I was assigned to style a 2 day photoshoot in Pennsylvania for Country Living and I worked very closely with one of their senior editors, Jennifer Vreeland McDermott. On the long car ride back to NYC we talked about our interests and hobbies and I mentioned my budding bridal illustration business. About a month or two later I learned Jennifer was moving on from Country Living to become the new Editor in Chief of New Jersey Life! I sent her a congratulatory note and told her if she ever needed any sketches done that I would love to work with her again and share my portfolio. Soon after I received an email asking me to send some examples over. The rest is history, here is the tear from their premiere wedding issue.

This last image is from Design This Design That, a online art magazine. It was my first time being interviewed about my work and my process. I really love the look of the spread with my shop name over my Lily print and the text of the article overlapping one of my brides. You can read the interview by clicking here, and "turning" to page 107.